Collected Poems 1956-1998
This outstanding new translation brings a uniformity of voice to Zbigniew Herbert's entire poetic output, from his first book of poems, String of Light, in 1956, to his final volume, previously unpublished in English, Epilogue Of the Storm. Collected Poems: 1956-1998, as Joseph Brodsky said of Herbert's SSelected Poems, is "bound for a much longer haul than any of us can anticipate." He continues, "For Zbigniew Herbert's poetry adds to the biography of civilization the sensibility of a man...
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Every great poet lives between two worlds. One of these is the real, tangible world of history, private for some and public for others. The other world is a dense layer of dreams, imagination, fantasms. It sometimes happens... that this second world takes on gigantic proportions, that it becomes inhabited by numerous spirits, that it is haunted by Leo Africanus and other ancient magi.Publishers WeeklyHerbert (1924 1998) lived to witness his hometown of Lwów, Poland, occupied by the Soviets in 1939, the Nazis in 1941, and the Soviets again in 1944. This exposure to systematic and violent oppression awakened in Herbert a protective and motivating skepticism that pervades all his poetry: "If you put trust in your five senses/ the world contracts into a hazelnut." This impeccably, newly translated and edited volume finds Herbert, strongly anticommunist throughout his life, determined to resist the reduction of the human to anything easily measured, manipulated and forgotten, even if history keeps reminding us that "only our dreams have not been humiliated." Tender, wary, melancholy and wry, the poems visit ideas of redemption as one might visit a grave site, i.e., knowing that what you seek can only be experienced in the heart and mind. If one attempts through poetry to "offer to the betrayed world / a rose," Herbert's world-weary, tragicomic alter-ego, Mr. Cogito one of last century's most memorable poetic personages warns us that the gesture will probably go unnoticed, especially in an age when even "the temple of freedom/ has been turned into a flea market." Finally, the work of this powerful master of 20th-century literature is all in one place. (Feb.)Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
The Collected Poems\ 1956-1998 \ \ By Zbigniew Herbert \ HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.\ Copyright © 2007 Zbigniew Herbert\ All right reserved.\ ISBN: 9780060783907 \ \ \ Two Drops\ \ No time to grieve for roses, when the forests are burning.\ --Juliusz Słowacki\ \ The forests were on fire--\ they however\ wreathed their necks with their hands\ like bouquets of roses\ People ran to the shelters--\ he said his wife had hair\ in whose depths one could hide\ Covered by one blanket\ they whispered shameless words\ the litany of those who love\ When it got very bad\ they leapt into each other's eyes\ and shut them firmly\ So firmly they did not feel the flames\ when they came up to the eyelashes\ To the end they were brave\ To the end they were faithful\ To the end they were similar\ like two drops\ stuck at the edge of a face\ \ \ Continues... \ \ \ \ Excerpted from The Collected Poems by Zbigniew Herbert Copyright © 2007 by Zbigniew Herbert. Excerpted by permission.\ All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.\ Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. \ \
\ Joseph Brodsky"Zbigniew Herbert is a poet for this place; above all, for this time."\ \ \ \ \ San Francisco Chronicle"Now, nearly 10 years after his death, Herbert’s voice is gathered, uncensored and unimaginably strong, in one dynamic volume."\ \ \ Philadelphia Inquirer"English readers have cause for celebration..."\ \ \ \ \ San Francisco Chronicle“Now, nearly 10 years after his death, Herbert’s voice is gathered, uncensored and unimaginably strong, in one dynamic volume.”\ \ \ \ \ Philadelphia Inquirer“English readers have cause for celebration...”\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyHerbert (1924–1998) lived to witness his hometown of Lwów, Poland, occupied by the Soviets in 1939, the Nazis in 1941, and the Soviets again in 1944. This exposure to systematic and violent oppression awakened in Herbert a protective and motivating skepticism that pervades all his poetry: "If you put trust in your five senses/ the world contracts into a hazelnut." This impeccably, newly translated and edited volume finds Herbert, strongly anticommunist throughout his life, determined to resist the reduction of the human to anything easily measured, manipulated and forgotten, even if history keeps reminding us that "only our dreams have not been humiliated." Tender, wary, melancholy and wry, the poems visit ideas of redemption as one might visit a grave site, i.e., knowing that what you seek can only be experienced in the heart and mind. If one attempts through poetry to "offer to the betrayed world / a rose," Herbert's world-weary, tragicomic alter-ego, Mr. Cogito—one of last century's most memorable poetic personages–warns us that the gesture will probably go unnoticed, especially in an age when even "the temple of freedom/ has been turned into a flea market." Finally, the work of this powerful master of 20th-century literature is all in one place. (Feb.)\ Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \
